Reviews

Of all the tools you can keep in a Mac utility toolbox, one of the most important involves whatever you'll use to recover data from a failing or messed up hard drive. And the tool I always go to first when I'm having drive troubles is Alsoft's DiskWarrior. DiskWarrior 5 is now available, so let's take a look at what's new.

My 14 year old came to me last week with a dead mouse in his hands. No, not a rodent. So I gave him my gaming mouse, which left me looking for a new one. I've found it, and it's from Logitech - it's called the G502 Proteus Core.

As I've made my way through MacBooks, MacBook Pros, and MacBook Airs over the years, I've gone through a lot of power adapters. They typically wear out and fray in one of two places: Either near the MagSafe adapter, up near the MacBook, or down near the transformer. Recently I became aware of a new product, the Python cord protector, that purports to resolve that latter issue.

While my fitness resolutions tend to be based around the roller derby season rather than New Year's, they remain a popular January tradition. If you're looking for a fitness resolution for the new year, I'm going to suggest something for you right here: Fitstar Yoga.

Since 2010, I'd been using Syncopy to sync clipboards between my Macs; unfortunately, the app had been virtually untouched since its release, and it got buggier with every OS X release. And that's not even talking about its iOS support, which was minimal and very quickly outmoded.

So, 2015 around the corner. Time for a new app to sync my clipboard. What better resource to turn to than Twitter? And though I didn't find a Continuity-based app, the iCloud-based ones I did find are pretty fantastic.

Three months ago we published our iPhone 6 review and iPhone 6 Plus review, diving deep into Apple's big and bigger new phones. We took our time and tested everything from the new screens to the new cameras to the new chipsets. But now we've lived with these phones for weeks at a time and we've gotten to know them better than any preliminary review would allow. So, just like with iOS 8 earlier this week, we're taking another look. We're going to tell you how both the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus are working for us now, three months later!

When I reviewed Airmail last year, it was arguably the best mail app available for the Mac. Since then, I've used a handful of other apps before ultimately settling on the Mailbox for Mac beta. However, Airmail 2 just landed, combining the same advanced features with an even better Yosemite-style interface. So, is it enough to regain my heart, and the OS X mail app crown?

I'm 45, and I've been gaming on consoles since the Magnavox Odyssey. Many of the games I've played over the years represent a huge investment of time and a huge return of pleasure in playing, so I keep them. I keep them on shelves in my office, I keep them in bins in my basement. I don't get rid of them for the same reason I don't toss my old vinyl albums or CDs — in many cases, there's a real emotional attachment.

But this isn't about my hoarding tendencies. It's a good thing I've kept those old games around, because now I can play them again on my Mac. A powerful application provides the framework to do it easily, and it's absolutely free. It's called OpenEmu, and here's how to use it.

Three months ago we reviewed iOS 8, arguably the most jam-packed versions of the iPhone and iPad operating system we've seen since the introduction of the App Store back in 2008. Since then we've gotten updates — up to iOS 8.1.2 on the production branch and iOS 8.2 beta 2 on the developer branch. We've gotten bug fixes, performance enhancements, and even more new features. But with the good comes the bad. With new possibilities come new frustrations and with new workflows come new bugs. So, how has it held up? How are we liking iOS 8 now, some three months later?